Sheet material scriber



NOV. 22, 1966 R, MCAUSTER 3,286,351

SHEET MATERIAL SCRIBER Filed Feb. 8, 1965 Roy MCA //'sfer BE7/WM A TTOR NE Y United States Patent O 3,286,351 SHEET MATERIAL SCRIBER Roy McAlister, Tremonton, Utah (Soda Springs, Idaho) Filed Feb. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 430,856 6 Claims. (Cl. 331-42) This invention relates to a Sheetrock scriber and has for an object to provide an improved scribe for scribing Sheetrock so that it may be rst scribed to a prescribed size and then accurately be broken off to the desired size.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved Sheetrock scriber which has a scribing blade secured on a scriber head which may be adjustably clamped to a graduated ruler and then the scribing head may be rolled over the Sheetrock to scribe an indented marking on the Sheetrock parallel to and at a prescribed distance from the Sheetrock edge, along which indented marking the Sheetrock may be thereafter readily broken off.

In brief, this Sheetrock scriber consists of a carriage having a plurality of tandem-spaced rollers journaled on one leg of an L-shaped angle member, the same leg also depending below the bottom of the roller and acting as a guide to slide along the edge of the Sheetrock, while a mler arm secured to the angle member extends at right angles thereto. A scriber head cooperates with the ruler, and has a pivoted clamping lever which may be manually gripped to clamp and secure the head to the ruler at any desired position along the ruler.

The ruler may be recessed at spaced intervals facilitating clamping the head to the ruler at prescribed distances therealong. The head has a roller journaled thereto for riding over the Sheetrock, and a scribing blade for scribing the Sheetrock as the scriber head rolls over the Sheetrock at the prescribed distance as guided by the carriage and its guiding leg along the Sheetrock edge.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combina- -tion of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the Sheetrock scriber of this invention in operative position on a sheet of Sheetrock.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are sectional views, each on an enlarged scale, on lines 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 of FIG. l.

Sheetrock is usually made and sold in rectangular sheets in sizes suitable for shipping and storage, but the commercially available sizes are not always usable in certain locations, and it is very often necessary for the individual user to cut the sheet to a desired size. With the scriber 10 of this invention, it becomes readily possible to accurately cut a rectangular Sheetrock sheet 12 to any desired smaller size, without unnecessary wastage.

The scriber 10 consists of a carriage 14 riding over the sheet 12 on rollers 16 and 18. The rollers 16 are tandem spaced and journaled on a vertically extending leg 20 of an elongate angle carriage member 22 to whose other leg 24 a ruler arm 26 is fixedly secured. The tandem rollers 16 are journaled on individual axles 28 and sleeves 30 secured to the angle leg 20y by stud screws 32. At the forward and rear end of vertical angle leg 20, beveled lips 34 angle slightly outwardly so as to more readily guide the leg 20 along the abutting edge of the sheet 12.

The ruler arm 26 may be suitably graduated, as in fractions of an inch, as indicated, and in addition, may be also provided with regularly spaced transverse recesses 36, such recesses being provided -at certain selected graduations, as desired. These recesses 36 cooperate with the clamping end 38 of a lever 40 pivoted at 42 between the sides 44 and 46 of an elongate scriber head 48, which is U-shaped in cross section. The head 48 is apertured transversely at 50 to receive the ruler 26 slidably therethrough so that When the free end 52 of lever 40 and free end 54 of head 48 are grasped and squeezed by the hand, the scriber is clamped on the ruler 26 at the desired distance from the edge of the she-et along which the leg 20 is guided. The roller 18 is journaled on axle 56 secured to one or both scriber sides 44 and 46.

A scriber blade 58 has la scribing point 60 extending therefrom to a point adjustably below the bottom of wheel 18, and thus into the surface of the sheet, as at 62, when the scriber head is drawn over the surface of the sheet 12 by the hand grasping the lever end 52 and scriber head free end 54. The blade 58 is adjustably secured between the scriber head sides 44 and 46 by a bolt 64 and wing nut 66 extending through the sides 44 and 46. Obviously, suitable friction providing surfaces may be provided on the inner surfaces of the scriber head sides 44 and 46 to facilitate grasping and holding the blade 58 at the desired angle and depth adjustment.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A Sheetrock scriber comprising a scriber carriage, said carriage comprising an elongate angle member L- shaped in cross section, a plurality of tandem spaced rollers journaled on one leg of said elongate angle member, the bottom of said rollers being substantially above the bottom of said leg, said leg providing a scriber guide for cooperating with the edge of a sheet of Sheetrock to be scribed, a ruler and a scriber head carrying arm iixedly secured to the other leg of said elongate angle member and extending generally .at right angles thereto, a scriber head adjustably secured along the length of said ruler and scriber head carrying arm, and a roller journaled on said scriber head in parallelism with said angle member rollers.

2. The Sheetrock scriber of claim 1, said adjustably secured scriber head being transversely apertured to slidably fit over and along said ruler and scriber head carrying arm, a scriber blade secured in said scriber head and having a scribing edge extending below said scriber head journaled roller, and manually operable clamp means on said scriber head for adjustably clamping said head to said ruler arm and manipulating said carriage in scribing operation.

3. The Sheetrock scriber of claim 2, said scriber head being an elongate sheet member generally U-shaped in cross section, said scriber blade extending down between and below the sides of said U-shaped head, and wing nut means for clamping said head sides together to hold said scriber blade in adjusted position.

4. The scriber of claim 3, said manually operable clamp means comprising a lever having a rule clamping end pivoted between said head sides and engageable with a surface of said ruler arm, the other end of said lever extending adjacent the non-scriber end of said head for manual manipulation therewith.

5. The scriber of claim 4, said ruler arm being graduated in increments of length, and clamping lever end receiving recesses spaced along said graduated ruler.

6. The Sheetrock scriber of claim 4, the opposite ends of said elongate angle member depending leg being beveled outwardly.

Ne references cited.

LEONARD FORMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SHEETROCK SCRIBER COMPRISING A SCRIBER CARRIAGE, SAID CARRIAGE COMPRISING AN ELONGATE ANGLE MEMBER LSHAPED IN CROSS SECTION, A PLURALITY OF TANDEM SPACED ROLLERS JOURNALED ON ONE LEG OF SAID ELONGATED ANGLE MEMBER, THE BOTTOM OF SAID ROLLERS BEING SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THE BOTTOM OF SAID LEG, SAID LEG PROVIDING A SCRIBER GUIDE FOR COOPERATING WITH THE EDGE OF A SHEET OF SHEETROCK TO BE SCRIBED, A RULER AND A SCRIBER HEAD CARRYING ARM FIXEDLY SECURED TO THE OTHER LEG OF SAID ELONGATED ANGLE MEMBER AND EXTENDING GENERALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO, A SCRIBER HEAD ADJUSTABLY SECURED ALONG THE LENGTH OF SAID RULER AND SCRIBER HEAD CARRYING ARM, AND A ROLLER JOURNALED ON SAID SCRIBER HEAD IN PARALLELISM WITH SAID ANGLE MEMBER ROLLERS. 